


The Things That We Could Be

by Kileykao



Category: Critical Role (Web Series) RPF
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-23 20:08:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21087080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kileykao/pseuds/Kileykao
Summary: The first time that Sam smelt Liam while in heat it was a Sunday





	The Things That We Could Be

The first time Sam smelt Liam while he was in heat was on a Sunday. The two of them were still young, they weren’t yet parents, a little bit dumber, not quite thirty, and the idea of starting a podcast together was completely nonexistent. They were best friends, nothing more. It was easier to just be that than it was to think about being something else other than that. No matter how many people ask about them being something more. No matter how much the two of them act like something more. No matter how many times Liam and Sam pressed together, half drunk and high on life scenting one another. No matter how many times Liam presented his neck to Sam. They were just best friends. Nothing more. 

They didn’t talk about the fact that they were an alpha and an omega. In hindsight, they should have had that conversation at some point. But both of them are married to their beautiful beta wives and are happy with the lives that they’ve built with them over the years. They didn’t need to talk about the fact that they were an alpha and an omega when Liam always wore half a bottle of scent blockers -- That Sam very kinda pretended blocked his scent, even though the blockers never really masked the older man’s scent for him. 

So instead of talking about the elephant in the room, occasionally the two of them scent each other, pressed skin to skin and enjoying the warmness and comfort that comes from being pressed together and pretending that everything was fine. Sometimes Liam presents his neck to the alpha, both of them pretending that the Omega wasn’t and Sam ignoring the fact that every fiber of his being wants him to bite, too claim. 

They were out of town for a convention, somewhere in the middle of nowhere America for the weekend. The two of them had been sat side by side at panels the first two days, and Liam was honestly enjoying this time with Sam. It wasn’t something that they got to do a lot in LA often. Just spend a couple of days together. They barely had time to see each other between work and personal things, let alone have more than one meal together in the span of two days. 

(If Liam was also enjoying spending his nights letting Sam frown at his choice in sleeping clothes and letting the alpha pull him into his clothes. As well as being able to let himself fall into Sam’s arms and letting the alpha scenting him freely. Well. No one needed to that.)

When Liam woke up alone in bed on the last day of the convention with a familiar feeling of warmth in his gut that he knew exactly what it meant. In hindsight, Liam should've locked the door to his and Sam’s hotel room bathroom, waiting for Sam to get out of the room and telling the younger man that he couldn’t go to the last day of the convention because of his unplanned cycle. 

Instead, when Sam got out of the showers and pressed his face into his neck -- like he has every morning this weekend -- while mouthing a whisper into his bared neck that he smells good, Liam should have told him that he was in heat, in place of just making a noncommittal noise. 

He shouldn’t have just hoped that the first full wave of his heat won’t come until he got back to the hotel that night and covered himself with half a bottle of liquid scent blockers when he got out of the shower hoping would cover the scent of his heat. 

In hindsight, he should of went back upstairs to his hotel room after breakfast when Sam asked him if he was okay, reaching across the table and resting a cool palm against his cheek telling him that he looked a little red in the face -- and he really should of went back to his room after Sam asked him why his scent was off, pulling him closer and dropping his head into his hair as they head towards their first commitment of the day. 

(Liam always smells good to Sam. Normally his scent is a calming wave of honey and snow and  _ home _ . But right at that moment, it was everything he normally loves about Liam’s scent turned up to eleven. The utter comfort of the smell washing over him and leaving a steady mantra of “Mine, Mine, Claim,” in the back of Sam’s head that he readily pretends isn’t there like always.)

Liam was wearing enough scent blockers that no Alpha, not even one standing as close as Sam, should be able to smell any scent coming from him at all, let alone be able to tell that his scent was off.

In all honesty, he should have headed back to their hotel room after his and Sam’s last panel of the weekend, when Sam placed his hand on the back of his neck and Liam felt himself shudder at the contact, as he had to hold back the urge to present his neck to Sam. While he watched as Sam’s eyes briefly grew dark with hunger before any thoughts he was having were shaken from his head. 

He should have called it quits on the day after the first time an alpha came into his autograph line and Liam feels himself jump, startled by the presence, and found himself looking in the direction of Sam to make sure he was still there. 

Instead of doing the smart thing, he just holds his breath the next time an alpha comes to his table. Liam can feel himself panicking the second the alpha touches him. He can feel Sam’s eyes on him, even without looking in his direction to see if he is looking this way. 

He  _ really  _ should go back to his hotel room. 

Instead, he downs an entire bottle of water after the second alpha walked away and looks towards Sam. Sam mouths to him asking if he’s okay. Liam nods once sharply, feeling his fingers twitch wanting to reach towards Sam for comfort. From the next table over, Sam doesn’t look like he even remotely believes what Liam is saying. 

It was the third Alpha that did him in.

He almost made it threw the entirety of his signing with no problems. There were only a handful of people left in his line, even less in Sam’s, when the alpha came up to him. He was in his space almost immediately, a hand on the back of his neck and an alpha that he doesn’t know standing just a bit too close for comfort. He doesn’t hear what the man is saying, just a low hum of static as his brain tells him a repeated mantra of “No, no, no, find Sam, bad,  _ Sam _ ”

He doesn’t remember what happens next just the alpha standing too close and then Sam between them a low growl coming from his chest as he does. He reaches forward, fingerings reaching towards Sam’s hand, and then Sam is on him. 

For the first time, all-day Liam feels himself relax, being wrapped up in Sam’s arms. The warmness of Sam washing over him and his scent holding him steady as he shakes. There is talking going on around him, but the only thing that he can hear is Sam’s soft growl into his hair. It’s easy to let his cycle wash over him completely like this. 

_ Home, comfort, safe, my alpha,  _ his mind repeats a mantra as Sam’s scent washes over him. 

The younger man holds him close, the smell of Sam that he’s always labeled as “Honey, Snow, Sugar, Home, Sam,” an ever-repeating cycle in his head comforting him. It’s like this he feels his heat crash over him. It’s slow at first, just the feeling warmth low in his belly, slowly becoming slickness between his legs. He can feel them moving, but Sam is still holding him close and everything still sounds quiet, the only noise being Sam’s low, ever-present growl. 

It’s comforting. 

He doesn’t know how they get back to their hotel room, his entire mind is just “Sam, Sam, Home, Sam, Protection,”, then his back is flat on the bed of their hotel room and Sam is talking to him. 

Liam doesn’t want to talk, he doesn’t know how intelligible he would even be in that moment anyway. Instead, when Sam moves away he reaches after him and he watches as Sam’s fingers twitch against his thigh as he struggles not to move forward. 

Sam says something to him, but he doesn’t move forward from his place at the end of the bed. Sam’s feet firmly stay planted on the ground as Liam whines, reaching forward again, moving slightly down the bed towards him. Sam twitches again -- Every part of Sam tells him to comfort Liam, to pull him close and keep him safe, but the part of him that can feel his rut creeping on up him, tells him to leave or at least dial Amy or Q’s number.

Sam fiddles with his phone, his finger shaking as Liam continues to whine out his name, begging him to come closer. Amy’s name is higher in his contacts that Q’s, so he dials her number. 

“Sam?” She answers with confusion in her voice. Sam doesn’t actually dial her number very often, along with the fact that it’s early enough in the day that the two of them should still be at the convention. It’s not surprising that she’s confused.

“Liam, he’s…” his voice is strained and he can hear it in his voice. The scent of Liam is filling the room, as Liam moans at the sound of his voice, as he starts moving closer again. Liam can almost reach him now with how much he’s moved down the bed, his fingers hovering just out of reach of Sam, “Heat,” Sam finished lamely. 

Amy, despite Sam’s strained voice and choppy sentences, gets the point he’s trying to make, “Liam’s in heat? Are you somewhere safe? Both of you?” 

Liam’s fingers finally landed on his stomach and he pulls the fabric up so his fingers are tracing across the skin of his stomach, Sam hears himself grown, and Amy’s voice is in his ear repeating his name. 

Right. Right, he has to answer her. Actually tell her what’s happening with the two of them. 

“Hotel Room…” Liam pulls the fabric of his shirt higher and stumbles off of the bed into him. Sam catches him with an oof, and say into his phone, “Rut,”

It’s getting harder to concentrate on what Amy is saying to him with Liam pushing himself into his space, both of them slowly being washed over with the feeling and haziness of their respective cycles. Amy says something about Q and Sam doesn’t know what it is or what she means, but then there’s silence for a moment and then both of the ladies are talking in his ear. 

He should be listening to what the two of them are saying, but he has a feeling they know he isn’t exactly listening and that the conversation is more between the two of them anyway. Because right now Liam is pressed close to him and has his arms wrapped around Sam’s neck. His face dropped into the crook of his neck. 

“Sam,” It’s Q’s voice, “Take care of Liam, okay?” Is what she says, and he doesn’t understand what she means. 

“But, you,” is all he says back to her. Even with his mind as hazy as it is right now. The words don’t really make sense to him. Why would his wife be okay with him sharing his cycle with someone else?

“Liam needs you more than I need you right now, Sam. Me and Amy will make sure the hotel is covered for the next couple of…” Q is definitely still talking, but Liam’s breath is hot on the skin of his neck and his fingers are starting to futz with his belt. 

“Sam,” It’s Amy’s voice in his ear, stern and steady, “take care of my husband, I trust you to keep him safe.  _ He _ trusts you to keep him safe,”

Sam nods and the two women seem to understand because they both laugh and tell him to take care of each other before the line is silent. He stands there for a moment, Liam’s face in the crook of his neck and the phone silent next to his ear. 

Liam starts pulling at his belt in earnest now, and Sam drops his phone behind him, trying for the dresser and instead the phone finding the floor with a bang, neither of them pays it any mind before Sam is on Liam. Both of them pulling at each other’s clothes. He can see Liam visibly relax as Sam presses his face into his neck, both of them being consumed by the scents of each other. 

Sam’s clothes go first. Liam hastily pulling the fabric to reach more of Sam, his hands seemingly everywhere and nowhere on Sam at once. Then Sam is pulling Liam’s jeans down. His boxers are already soaked threw, wet with slick and before Sam even realizes what he’s doing his face is planted in the fabric. His tongue laps at the fabric and an explosion of flavor spreads across his tongue. 

It’s not what Sam expected Liam to taste like— not that he’s put much thought into what Liam’s slick would taste like over the last couple of years— but he’s been with omegas before when he was younger, single and still hadn’t yet met Quyen yet. He doesn’t remember them tasting this  _ good _ . He remembers them tasting okay, the same as eating anyone else out, but Liam tastes like heaven. 

It’s almost addictive how Liam tastes. Like an expensive fine wine and the Salt Water candies that he had gotten along the shores of the Atlantic growing up. The taste is so entirely Liam that it washes over him in waves of pleasure. So much so that he wants more. He pushes Liam’s boxers down and licks his lips at the shininess spread across his thighs. 

His licks the slick straight from the source and it tastes even better. Underneath him Liam is writhing and moaning, his hands fisted into Sam’s hair and arcing his hips into Sam’s mouth. 

Liam tastes  _ fantastic  _ and he tells the man as much, whispering into his thighs how great he tastes and how sweet he is -- how perfect he tastes. 

He doesn’t know how long he stays there between Liam’s legs this first time. It might have been minutes or it might have been hours, but he slowly draws an orgasm out of the older man. His tongue lapping over his hole and fluttering across his cock at times— the omega’s cum is saltier than his slick but still tastes fantastically like Liam that he just wants more— until the omega’s cum spreads mostly across his stomach. 

Sam’s chin is wet when he looks up at Liam’s face again. The omega is looking down at him with dark eyes, consumed by pleasure and when Sam licks his lips, the taste of Liam spreading across his palette again, the younger man moans in pleasure. 

Liam’s fingers pull at his head until Sam complies and the omega guides him up into a kiss. It starts off soft and clumsy. The two of them exploring what the other likes in a kiss, what the other tastes like and just the feeling of it. 

The kiss deepens and Sam rocks against Liam’s thigh drawing more cries of pleasure out of both of them. Sam can feel Liam getting hard again and moves his face to his neck, letting his mouth attach to the skin there, not biting his claim, but sucking hard enough that there will be a hell of a bruise thereafter their cycles pass. 

After a minute, Sam whispers into Liam’s neck “Do you want me to knot you?”

The words wash over Liam and he lets them sink in. His head is a bit clearer now, the bliss of his orgasm pushing back the haziness that accompanies his heat and clearing his head just enough for him to think about it. 

The part of him that is pure instinct and heat right now sees no problem with it, a means to satisfy his heat and bring it to an end. The rest of him is scared he’d lose Sam afterward. That them knotting will cause a rift between them and he doesn’t want that. 

Liam wants, as much as he hates to admit it, the stereotypical post-heat care that omegas in TV shows get. He wants Sam close and to take care of him. 

“Knot me, Sammy,” his voice is breathy when he speaks, so much so that it takes him by surprise. When Sam seems to hesitate, the words  _ ‘but it’s just your heat talking’ _ on the tip of his tongue, Liam whispers, “please”

Sam hesitates again, and Liam rolls their hips together and Sam groans, before whispering “Have you been knotted before,” Liam narrows his eyes and pushes at Sam’s head so they can look each other in the eyes. He doesn't know what he was expecting in Sam’s eyes— he doesn’t even really know what he  _ wanted _ to see in his eyes— but looking now, he just sees worry. “I don’t want to hurt you,”

It’s a soft whispered breath between them and Liam softens. 

“I have, Sammy.” He gets the feeling that this is the reassurance that Sam needs. That even with both of their minds hazy with their respective cycles Sam still needs to make sure that Liam is okay. That he isn’t going to hurt him. “And I want you to knot me,”

“But,”

Liam’s hands move and his palms cup Sam’s face. Slowly, he presses a kiss to his lips soft and gentle, “I want you to take care of me, Sammy.”

Those more seem to snap something together in Sam’s mind because he’s moving the second that it’s out of Liam’s mouth. 

Sam’s hands move downward and his fingers find warmth. Liam’s head falls back in pleasure, a soft grown escaping his mouth. Liam is wet already, slick and saliva coating his hole and thighs, so it barely takes a minute or two before he’s rocking on Sam’s fingers begging for more. Slowly, Sam pushes his cock in as both of them moaned in unison at the feeling. 

Sam’s cock was buried deep in him. They both pause for a moment, Sam buried deep into Liam, both of them panting heavily at the feeling. Liam’s fingers are clawing at Sam’s back, looking for something to hold on to, and to keep Sam close. 

It takes a moment before Sam moves, slowly rocking his hips to meet Liam’s. Like this, pressed together in the mists of their cycles, it doesn’t take long for Sam to feel his knot forming. 

Sam leans down and pressed another kiss to the omega’s lip. The kiss is rough, filled with passion, and he can feel Liam subconsciously tilting his head back to present his neck to Sam. Sam’s mouth moves to Liam’s neck — for a brief second he thinks about biting down, claiming Liam as his — but instead, he pressed a soft kiss to the skin there. 

Liam rocks into Sam’s thrusts as Sam’s lips tease at the skin of his neck with soft licks and kisses. Liam cums again like that, his cum spreading in with the drying cum already on his stomach and even still begging Sam for more. 

It only takes one or two more times rocking into Liam for him to feel them lock together with his knot, feeling pleasure wash threw him as he cums deep inside Liam. Liam's eyes are wide, his mouth forming a small ‘o’ and his fingers still digging into Sam’s back. 

Before Sam’s mind can worry, Liam whispers, “You feel so good, Sammy.” 

Sam fella himself relax with that. The primal part of his brain whispering to him,  _ You made your omega happy, your Omega, protect,  _ ** _claim_ **

It’s easy to push those thoughts aside and whisper softly into Liam’s neck, “So you want to flip over and sleep a little bit before the next wave?”

Liam hums tiredly in agreement and carefully, still connected, they carefully flip over so Liam is laying down on his chest. Liam hums again, the happiness rolling off of Liam in waves, and eyes closed in bliss. 

“How long?” Sam doesn’t need to ask what the older man means, he knows what Liam is asking him without an explanation. 

“An hour at most,” he whispers back into Liam’s soft curls, moaning when the older man rolls his hip, clenching down on Sam’s cock. Liam, from on top of him, sighs happily, as his knot twitches inside him. The older man is content to spend some time together pressed close like this and being held in place by Sam’s knot. 

“Good,” he whispers back with a shy, “Good,” and the Omega drifted off to sleep 

**Later**

It’s not that Sam avoids Liam afterward. They’re busy people, sometimes they go for a couple of weeks without seeing each other. It’s not unusual for that to happen. What is usual, is Sam making up excuses not to see Liam. 

Sam wanted to go to him. He wanted to spend another day in the hotel room with Liam spoiling him the way a proper alpha should treat his omega after his heat. But the parts of him that weren’t shaking with the need to go and comfort and spoil Liam, told him that Liam didn’t want that. After four days of being mostly locked together by Sam’s knot, his brain told him that he didn’t want Sam hovering and still there. 

If he avoids Liam then the older man won’t realize that their shared cycle was a mistake. 

That’s the last thing Sam wants to come out of this exchange.

Which is how two and a half weeks after their shared cycle ended, Liam pushes into his and Q’s apartment, Amy not far behind him, and pushes Sam down onto the couch, straddling his waist and burying his face into his neck. 

Easily Sam’s arms settle around his waist and presses a soft kiss into his hair. 

Liam doesn’t say anything, and neither does Sam. For a moment, the only noise in the apartment is Amy and Q softly giggling at them from the kitchen, as well as the sound of their quiet conversation. 

Sam’s fingers run through Liam’s soft curls slowly, and after a few moments of Easy silence Liam whispers, “Was I not a good enough Omega for you?”

Sam can hear the ladies in the next room fall silent as the words leave Liam’s mouth. Sam pulls Liam closer, a panic running threw him like a shock, he drops his face into Liam’s hair before whispering, “You were perfect Liam. The best Omega I’ve been with.”

It wasn’t a lie. Sam doesn’t think any Omega could ever compare to Liam, not after sharing their cycles. Before they shared their cycle together, he could vaguely tell you about every other Omega that he’s been with, now when he thinks about that, he’s mind just goes to Liam. 

Liam’s face is wet against his neck, “Then why did you leave me after?”

Sam feels like he’s been punched in the gut. He was so stuck into his own head, so scared that he didn't realize that his own panic that he was hurting Liam. He thought what was best was to pull away, that Liam regretted the handful of days together. 

He didn’t take a moment to think about that Liam might of wanted him to stay. 

Sam pulls at Liam’s head so that his face is in between his palms. He holds that position for a moment, just looking the older man in the eyes before whispering, “I thought you regretted it. That I… took advantage of you.”

Liam’s face is blank for a second, then two, then three. A minute passes of them looking at each other like this, Sam palms resting on his cheeks and Liam crying and shaking underneath his palms, his face blank. Then he falls into him shaking his head, mumbling that he didn’t, he wanted Sam to help him. He  _ trusts  _ Sam to help him. 

It’s Amy who breaks the silence, “Sam?” He looks over to her quickly, and she smiles softly at him and continues, “Do you still want to take care of Liam?”

Sam feels himself nods his head into Liam. He’s spent the last two and a half weeks avoiding Liam while every fiber of his being that told him to comfort him, to go to him and protect.

It’s Q who asks, “Do you want to take Liam to bed now?”

Sam hums. He wants to make Liam happy. He wants to provide for  his omega Liam. Sam wants to make Liam smile, he wants to stop the tears that are wet against his neck, he wants to make Liam  _ happy.  _ Liam is still shaking into his arms, hot wet tears against his neck and Sam presses a kiss into his hair. He looks up at the two ladies and whispers to them, “I want to make Liam happy,”

Both of the ladies smile, soft smiles that wash over Sam giving him some semblance of relief. He’s happy to know that they understand what the two of them need right now. That when he stands up, carrying Liam along and dropping him their bed, he realizes they won’t judge them. They just laugh at them, soft giggles that radiate a wave of happiness over him. He’s happy to see that they leave him be as he leaves Liam alone -- only after piling the bed high with a good majority of the blankets and pillows in his and Q’s apartment wrapped in the bed with him -- pulling away with the promise of food, and the two ladies watches as he moves around the kitchen and making food for the four of them. 

He cooks pancakes. He first piling a stack for Q, presenting to her with a kiss to the lips, then placing a plate for Amy in front of her with a hesitant kiss to the top of her head, that she laughs at, telling him that he’s allowed to kiss her head, before then finally carrying a plate stacked high with pancakes and syrup and fruit into the bedroom to presenting it to Liam.

Liam half asleep in the half-constructed pile of pillows and blankets -- that could be considered a nest if they were willing to admit that this thing that they were doing here was serious -- accepted the food gratefully. Smiling as he grabbed the plate from him and pulled Sam into a kiss. 

Then Liam opens his mouth expectantly and Sam feels himself hesitate for a moment. He knows what Liam is asking for -- and he every part of him wants to pick up the food and feed him. But feeding an Omega like  _ that _ is something that’s almost exclusively reserved for mates. Not two people like them who share cycles because it’s just more convenient than being alone in a strange place. But really, Sam won’t say no to Liam silent plea to be feed by Sam, not after ignoring him for the last two weeks at least. He’ll pick up a fork, slowly feeding Liam bits of syrup soaked pancakes, as Liam’s melts into the moment, his scent radiating bliss and happiness as Sam slowly feeds him. 

Towards the end, he gets a bit bold, mostly just to see how Liam reacts. Picking up one of the pieces of fruit that he had put on the plate with his fingers and presenting it to Liam. And Sam watches as Liam happily accepts it, leaning forward and taking Sam’s fingers into his mouth. Accepting the fruit and sucking the juices from his finger. 

Sam’s eyes go dark watching. He repeats the process, picking up a strawberry and presenting it to Liam again. Liam leans forward and takes Sam’s fingers into his mouth once again. They continue on like this until the plate is empty and Sam’s fingers are sticky from saliva and strawberry juice. The plate gets placed onto the nightstand and Liam pushes Sam into the bed, falling on top of his chest with his face pressed into his neck. 

Sam can feel Liam’s eyelashes flutter against his skin, before stilling. It’s soft and barely legible, more so being said into the fabric of Sam’s shirt than anything else, but Liam whispers a soft, “Thank you,”. Content to just spend the rest of the night pressed together in bed. 

They can figure out all the rest later. 


End file.
